Sunday, February 26, 2012

Nickle and Dimed

This review really is in praise of Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickle and Dimed. It is described as 'clear and direct', something which I fully agree with. Nickle and Dimed's clarity may stem from the on-field and covert research that she undertook in order to write the book. The comment of the book also being 'direct' could be considered to come from the fact that Ehrenreich is extremely honest and candid with the ways in which she deals with the problems that she faces with the three employers she comes into contact with in the time that she was conducting this research. For example, the walk out in Key West.

Also the statement: "premier reporter of the underside of capitalism" is a credit to Barbara Ehrenreich and Nickle and Dimed. I agree with this statement because it really does offer a good insight into the poverty striken lives of real people, which even at the time was a real problem faced by many people. The fact that the book addresses health care, a place to live, the poor quality food shows that she explored and took into account all the problems faced by people on low and minimum wage jobs.

The book, in the earlier stages of the review, is described as 'valuable and illuminating'. I agree with this statement as I believe that the novel really does shed light on some of the problems that these workers face due to the wages and poor treatment that they recieve. Such as the lack of help that she recieved in Maine and the treatment also suffered at Wal-Mart.